The present invention relates generally to telephony communications and services; and more specifically, to a method of implementing billing to incentivise shared mobile phone usage.
In many parts of the developing world, the high upfront cost of a mobile phone prohibits them from buying a mobile phone and subscription; however these people have a need to use mobile telephone to keep in touch with friends and family. More and more families in the emerging markets are also purchasing mobile phones for pooled or shared usage with a family unit, or amongst a group of friends. Typically these people pay the owner of the phone in cash for use of the device and to cover the physical cost of the call or transaction.
There are a number of methods that enable a user to log into a separate phone billing account from a device, so that the owner of the phone is not charged for the actual phone call or related transaction. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,366 by Bala, et al. Subscriber-Initiated Automated Third Party Billing Feature. By implementing these types of systems the owner of the phone can be free from the concern that the charge of the call or transaction will be deducted from their normal account and the subscribers can have a phone account and number without the need to have to purchase a handset. However this may not be enough incentive to enable the owner to share the phone since the owner of the phone will not make any profit from the transaction.
If the owner also expects a fee to share the phone they will have to negotiate this additional fee upfront, or they may share on a promise of a future payment because of their feeling of obligation to help the other user. The phone owner may also be concerned that their phone may be stolen during the sharing process, or that the sharer may try and defraud the phone owner by billing the cost of the call or other transactions to the phone owners billing account. There is therefore a reticence to share phones. Simple low cost access to mobile phones has huge economic and social impacts; industry is therefore keen to find methods to encourage and support shared phone usage. By sharing the revenue the telephony service provider makes to the phone owner as described in this invention, to compensate them for allowing the subscriber to make a call on their handset, the telephony service provider incentivises subscribers to share phones.